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Fortnite season 11 black hole theories blow up on social media

Users can't play the game, but they sure can make memes and jokes.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

Hold down the fort, Fortnite fans. The popular game's season 10 ended on Sunday with an unexpected descent into nothingness. Instead of introducing season 11, the island and the game appeared to have been destroyed, leaving only a black hole. 

We've got plenty of theories and details on the mysterious happenings, but for now, the game is unplayable. Fans who suddenly found themselves with extra time on their hands went ahead and created plenty of memes and jokes on social media, poking fun at the game and its suddenly bereft players.

Some jokes centered on the fans who found themselves just sitting and staring at a black hole.

Famed astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson wants to turn this into a learning experience and teach gamers about real black holes.

"Did your Fortnite game suck you & everything else into a black hole?" Tyson wrote. "Can't help you there. But death-by-black-hole is a thing, and there might even be an entire universe on the other side."

And another famous face, billionaire Elon Musk, got in the game, too. Musk retweeted an edited headline of a MarketWatch.com story that first circulated back in 2018, suggesting that Musk bought and deleted Fortnite.

Some mulled over the Lost-like numbers revealed without explanation.

"If you type the numbers '11 146 15 62 google maps' in Google and click the first link, you get a street view of a crab rave," wrote one Twitter user.

And some envisioned what might be coming next.

"Fortnite's website says that this black hole is ending on 15 Tuesday, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT GONNA HAPPEN!" wrote one Twitter user. "Most of their scheduled times are always a bit off or not correct!"

And some joked about how Fortnite players might need to find a new hobby, at least temporarily. "Time to move to ROBLOX, Fortnite," suggested one Twitter user.

Stay tuned, Fortnite fans. Something is coming, we just don't know quite when.